MJ posted a Pie chart that got me looking around. Rather than muddy an already hijacked thread, I thought I'd start another.
I ran across this historical info from the white house web site linked from the site MJ noted. It is pretty interesting to get a historical perspective on where we have spent our money and where it has come from. It's full of a bunch of tables - where many sites actual get the data. You can see the rise of income tax over excise (duties tariffs ect) and corporate tax. Nowdays upwards of 70% of the governments money comes from income tax and SS taxes.
In the Introduction, it states that in the 30's over 70% of the federal budget went to military and defence. We have been running a deficit since early last century and interest payments are becoming a larger and larger portion of spending.
Happy reading!
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy ... f/hist.pdf
Mark